Recovery.gov - Track the Money

Funds are to be invested on priority National Forest System (NFS) roads, bridges and structures where the long-term need for the road, bridge, or other structure has been documented.

Road Maintenance & Decommissioning – The appropriated funds will primarily address public safety needs, resource protection, and access to the most important National Forest System (NFS) sites and features.

Objectives are to reduce the number of roads and maintain roads to meet safety and environmental standards. Roads will be closed or decommissioned when necessary to reduce maintenance costs and protect forest resources. Maintenance activities include the maintenance of roads, bridges, and other vehicle access areas. Road maintenance priorities for passenger car roads are to meet Highway Safety Act requirements, allow emergency access for first responders, and provide escape routes for recreationists and local residents in emergency situations, such as wildfire. Priority high clearance road maintenance minimizes or eliminates environmental effects to resources, including sediments loads in streams and barriers to fish passage. Road decommissioning eliminates unneeded and unauthorized roads and restores land occupied by roads to a more natural state.

Bridge Maintenance & Decommissioning – Bridge maintenance and decommissioning projects are incorporated into road or trail maintenance and decommissioning projects. Therefore, the objectives of this activity are a component of either road or trail projects.

Trail Maintenance & Decommissioning – The trails program ensures public safety and backcountry access through the operation, maintenance, rehabilitation, and improvement of the NFS trails system. The appropriated funds will be used to provide trail accessibility and promote ecosystem health by protecting soil, vegetation, and water quality. Trail maintenance activities include clearing encroaching vegetation and fallen trees and repairing or improving trail signs, treadways, water drainage, and bridges. Trail decommissioning eliminates unneeded and unauthorized trails and restores land occupied by trails to a more natural state.

Related Watershed Restoration/Ecosystem Enhancements – The benefits of restoration projects include improved wildlife and fish habitat; improved range and forest stand conditions; improved water quality, quantity, and timing of stream flows; cleaner air; and effective long-term carbon sequestration.

Facility Improvement Maintenance and Rehabilitation – Facilities will be improved to eliminate health and safety risks at agency owned buildings and recreation sites and reduce deferred maintenance on aging infrastructure, thereby improving the ability of the agency to successfully perform its mission. Facility improvement includes construction, alteration, and expansion of facilities and recreation sites. This work will include design, construction, and operation and maintenance practices that implement energy efficiency, water conservation, and sustainable high-performance building principles.

Abandoned Mine Remediation – Tasks are to inventory, assess, and mitigate abandoned mine safety hazards and the associated environmental damage. Priorities are placed on cleaning up abandoned mines that are publicly accessible and in high priority watersheds. Mitigation of abandoned mine safety hazards helps ensure public health and safety and protects habitats and groundwater. Remediation activities include closing mine openings and vertical shafts; recontouring open pits, trenches and associated roads; and removing or stabilizing abandoned buildings, equipment, and hazardous materials.

The Agency’s processes for identifying and mitigating challenges and risks are set forth in Sections G, H, I, and J of its narrative Program Plan, separately submitted to OMB. Below is some, but not all, of the ways that the Forest Service is ensuring oversight capacity.

Acquisition Management (AQM): The Director of Acquisition Management has responsibility for implementation of processes to ensure compliance with ARRA and OMB Guidance on ARRA awards. AQM has established a link on its internal website for ARRA standard operating procedures for contracting officers (COs), contracting officers’ representatives (CORs), program managers, and other AQM staff. A national strategy for supporting the expenditure of ARRA funds has been established with two components: (1) Requirements Package Preparation Support will lie with local AQM staffs; and (2) AQM Recovery Project Support will occur through staff at four nation-wide Economic Recovery Opportunity Centers (EROCs). Once the EROCs are established, instruments implementing projects funded by the ARRA will be processed by these centers. Until then, AQM’s Washington Office will provide direct oversight of ARRA awards.

Office of Chief Financial Officer (OCFO): The CFO is responsible for ensuring that financial reporting required by the ARRA, including information provided by AQM, is accurate and timely and properly reported. The CFO is also responsible for providing oversight on risk mitigation strategies for ARRA funds expended by the Forest Service. Staff at Internal Quality Assurance (IQA), which report to the CFO, will perform independent reviews to ensure that specific ARRA program goals are met, including verification of financial accuracy, completeness, and compliance of reports products to meet accountability and transparency standards. IQA will also serve as the audit liaison for USDA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) on Forest Service ARRA-related audits, by providing audit oversight and coordination on all requests.

Forest Service Economic Recovery Team: The Economic Recovery Team, led by the Economic Recovery Executive, will conduct quarterly reviews of progress on awards. Reviews will include an evaluation of whether any projects are behind schedule to determine appropriate action. The Economic Recovery Team, working with IQA, will establish criteria for determining if funds should be re-allocated or de-obligated to be used on other projects.

Performance Accountability System: The Forest Service’s Performance Accountability System (PAS) – Managerial Reports can be updated daily (USDA updates financial data every other day) to report weekly on timely award of dollars, timely expenditure of dollars, and detection of cost overruns.

Information on the Forest Service’s development of accountable and transparent processes for implementation of the ARRA are set forth at Sections I and J of the Agency’s narrative Program Plan, separately submitted to OMB. Detailed information, including anticipated costs, on the projects approved for funding can be obtained at http://www.fed.us/recovery.gov.

With regard to the collection, compilation and dissemination of performance information from recipients, the Forest Service’s Director of Acquisitions Management (AQM) and appropriate staff are responsible for compliance with recipient reporting requirements as outlined by the OMB Guidance, and for working with the Department to provide consistency of reporting. OMB’s latest guidance provides that Section 1512(f) of the ARRA requires recipient reporting to begin 180 days after enactment, and for reports to be submitted by recipients 10 days after the end of each calendar quarter. Per OMB, this results in an initial statutory reporting deadline of October 10, 2009, with quarterly reports due 10 days after the end of each calendar quarter thereafter.

OMB’s guidance further indicates that it will work with agencies to determine the most appropriate method for reporting and collecting information from recipients for reporting. Detailed reporting instructions are to be made available by OMB at www.FederalReporting.gov, no less than 45 days before the October 10, 2009 reporting deadline.

Prior to further direction from OMB, the Forest Service has initiated the following procedures to appropriately collect required information from both grantees and contractors.

1. A Forest Service AQM representative will serve on an Intergovernmental Working Group for Recipient Reporting – one of two representatives from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This representative will assist in determining the best methods for Government-wide collection and reporting of recipient information for contractors and grantees receiving funds under the ARRA. The Forest Service also has representation on the Department of Agriculture’s teams addressing collection of recipient information, and has been involved in discussions on best methods for interim steps regarding collection of recipient information.

2. The Forest Service has issued Program Direction to its employees with a chapter detailing AQM ARRA Guidance and Standard Operating Procedures. This Program Direction outlines workflow and communications, ARRA key acquisition related provisions, AQM standard operating procedures, and systems standard operating procedures. The Program Direction outlines recipient reporting requirements to date, and provides a link to the Forest Service’s AQM website, which provides the appropriate FAR clauses for contracting and appropriate clauses for grants/agreements to be used in awarding funds under the ARRA, updated as needed.

3. The staff at established Economic Recovery Opportunity Centers (EROCs) will be responsible for informing recipients of the reporting requirements under the ARRA. A national strategy for supporting the expenditure of ARRA funds has been established with two components: (1) Requirements Package Preparation Support will lie with local AQM staffs; and (2) AQM Recovery Project Support will occur through staff at the four EROCs. Once established, all contracts, grants, and agreements implementing projects funded by the ARRA will be processed by the EROCs. Prior to final establishment of the EROCs expected by the end of April 2009, AQM’s Washington Office will provide direct oversight of contracts, grants, and agreements for ARRA funds by reviewing awards from local AQM staffs.

The Forest Service has taken significant steps to ensure compliance with the requirements of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and Executive Order 13423. Forest Service Handbook (FSH 7309.11, Chapter 70-Sustainable Buildings, November, 2008) requires all new facilities and major renovation projects, including those funded by the ARRA, include design, construction, and operation and maintenance practices that implement energy efficiency, water conservation and sustainable high-performance building principles. By operating in this manner and following the USDA Sustainable Building Implementation Plan, that promotes and requires sustainable building principles and practices, the requirements outlined in the OMB Recovery Guidance will be met.